My 8,000 Foot Wyoming Black Bear
SHOOTING CLASS
Join me and my son Andy for a three day "practical field positions for effectively killing big game" class presented by Non-Typical Outfitters and with my assistance.
8am to 7pm Central Time 7 days
The next morning our 4 hunters left camp around 9:30. That sounds sinfully late but we would not be returning until long after dark -- between 10:30 and midnight. The others headed off on horseback but Robb and I were traveling the first half hour in his truck trailering our horses and one pack mule.
The hunting area is in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the far western part of Wyoming. We moved along just below ridge tops on our horses, glassing often for cruising bears.
On my first day at almost noon Robb spotted a striking color phase bear about 1,100 yards across the canyon. The head and legs were brown and the rest of the body was almost blond, it was so light in color. Very striking appearance. After a five minute discussion we decided to go after it. We quickly worked our way down-slope through fairly dense trees until we arrived at a spot on the slope that was about 540 yards across from where we last saw our quarry.
It soon became apparent the bear was gone. Since we were about to leave this area Robb suggested I could take a shot to check my zero and to practice the down-slope seated shooting sticks position some more. I found a 20 inch light-colored rock and hit it but neither of us could tell just where I had hit it. So we found a 7 inch by 3 inch rock at 613 yards and I shot again. This one I missed but Robb said the miss was by only a half inch or so since he saw the smallish rock move from the bullet hitting the dirt right next to it.
I'm telling you this new emphasis and training on the down-slope seated shooting sticks position is a big game changer for me in mountain country! I will be practicing that shot a lot over the years. There just are too many situations where you can't always get prone in the mountains where and when you want to.
By late in the afternoon after a couple of swollen stream crossings we made our way to a potential shooting spot across a canyon from a bait setup. We talked about what I might expect in terms of behaviors if a bear came to the bait before dark.
With about 45 minutes of legal shooting light left a big black bear suddenly appeared fairly close to the bait. Neither of us had seen it approach but it was there. It gave me a couple of legitimate but brief shot opportunities but I was simply not prepared yet to take the shot.
After only about two minutes the bear suddenly left, apparently made nervous at the sound of a pair of cow elk moving through grass a little lower on the hillside than the bear was. We hoped he'd be back that night during good shooting light but as light levels fell we finally gave up.
Darn! That was a very good bear. And I blew it by not being quite prepared to take the shot. Hopefully he'd be back tomorrow evening. We headed back down the mountain in the dark without our headlamps shining, relying on the superior night vision of the horses to stay on the trail. Very impressive.
Join me and my son Andy for a three day "practical field positions for effectively killing big game" class presented by Non-Typical Outfitters and with my assistance.
- Set in the western mountains of Wyoming.
- Tent camp and horses.
- Friday through Sunday, August 1 to 3, 2014
8am to 7pm Central Time 7 days
The next morning our 4 hunters left camp around 9:30. That sounds sinfully late but we would not be returning until long after dark -- between 10:30 and midnight. The others headed off on horseback but Robb and I were traveling the first half hour in his truck trailering our horses and one pack mule.
The hunting area is in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the far western part of Wyoming. We moved along just below ridge tops on our horses, glassing often for cruising bears.
On my first day at almost noon Robb spotted a striking color phase bear about 1,100 yards across the canyon. The head and legs were brown and the rest of the body was almost blond, it was so light in color. Very striking appearance. After a five minute discussion we decided to go after it. We quickly worked our way down-slope through fairly dense trees until we arrived at a spot on the slope that was about 540 yards across from where we last saw our quarry.
It soon became apparent the bear was gone. Since we were about to leave this area Robb suggested I could take a shot to check my zero and to practice the down-slope seated shooting sticks position some more. I found a 20 inch light-colored rock and hit it but neither of us could tell just where I had hit it. So we found a 7 inch by 3 inch rock at 613 yards and I shot again. This one I missed but Robb said the miss was by only a half inch or so since he saw the smallish rock move from the bullet hitting the dirt right next to it.
I'm telling you this new emphasis and training on the down-slope seated shooting sticks position is a big game changer for me in mountain country! I will be practicing that shot a lot over the years. There just are too many situations where you can't always get prone in the mountains where and when you want to.
By late in the afternoon after a couple of swollen stream crossings we made our way to a potential shooting spot across a canyon from a bait setup. We talked about what I might expect in terms of behaviors if a bear came to the bait before dark.
With about 45 minutes of legal shooting light left a big black bear suddenly appeared fairly close to the bait. Neither of us had seen it approach but it was there. It gave me a couple of legitimate but brief shot opportunities but I was simply not prepared yet to take the shot.
After only about two minutes the bear suddenly left, apparently made nervous at the sound of a pair of cow elk moving through grass a little lower on the hillside than the bear was. We hoped he'd be back that night during good shooting light but as light levels fell we finally gave up.
Darn! That was a very good bear. And I blew it by not being quite prepared to take the shot. Hopefully he'd be back tomorrow evening. We headed back down the mountain in the dark without our headlamps shining, relying on the superior night vision of the horses to stay on the trail. Very impressive.
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